Goodwill store in Milpitas to relocate

Located at that site for decades, in more recent times the 6,700-square-foot space showed negative revenue results for the San Jose-based charitable organization that offers clothing and other items for sale to those in need.

"The store is really in bad shape. We plan to sell the building and sell that piece of land," said Michael Fox, president and chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of Silicon Valley. "The building is very small and we have outgrown the need for the business."

Fox said the store would be relocated across the street to the approximately 10,000-square-foot vacant Party City site at 311 W. Calaveras Blvd.

Reid Lerner, the project architect, said the $250,000 renovation would likely be completed this summer.

"The general contractor will be Walker Construction Co.," Lerner added.

The work will include interior tenant improvements for a retail store such as partitions, energy-efficient lighting and sustainable flooring, he said.

"The exterior wood trellis and colonnade on the side of the store will be repaired," Lerner said. "New retail style signs will be installed on the existing front of the building."

Although the new store will offer more space for merchandise and customers, Fox said it will not feature major exterior improvements such as an area to park large Goodwill trucks to either load or off-load collected goods in the often-packed shopping center.

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"We're creating a walk up parking area where people can drop off items through a side door to the store," Fox said, adding large rear cargo bays or loading docks would not be installed at this building site. "We don't have plans to have trucks parked there ... our donations come in one or two at a time anyway."

According to Fox, the Milpitas store revamp will improve business at the long struggling site -- what he deemed the worst in sales of all 19 existing Goodwill stores operated by the organization in Santa Clara and San Benito counties.

In 2013, Fox said the Milpitas store brought in about $773,300. Overall, he said Goodwill stores for the area took in $25.6 million in total sales -- on average about $1.3 million per store.

"Milpitas is our smallest store even revenue wise," Fox said, adding the expansion will hopefully increase sales here. "That store is lagging so we want to get that on a good, positive growth trajectory."